Apparatus for collecting solids suspended in gases.



W. E. PLAYTER.

APPARATUS PoE COLLECTING SOLIDS SUSPENDED 1N GASES. APPLICATION FILEDFBB.19,1914.

Wl TN ESSE 8 IN VEN TOR Willard. EPlay/cer,

W. E. PLAYTER.

APPARATUS EOE COLLECTING SOLIDS SUSPENDED IN GASES. ABPLIOATION FILED113.19, 1914.

1,11E5,O1=5.` Patented Nov. 24, 1914 [NMEA/TOR Willard Elayter;

W/WESSES;

UNITED sTATEs PATENT oEETc WILLARD E. PLAYTER, 0F COLLINSVILLE,ILLINOIS.

APPARATUS FOR COLLECTING SOLIDS SUSPENDED IN GASES.

Specication et Letters vPatent. i *.Patented Nov. 24;'1914 Applicationfiled February. 19, 1914. Serial No. 819,819.

To all whom t may concern Be it known that I, WILLARD E. Pnamn, acitizen of the United States of America,

residing atv Collinsville, Madiscn"county,

Y specification.

My invention relates to apparatus for co1- lecting solids suspended ingases, and, particularly, to apparatus vfor collecting the valuable orethat isy carried in suspension by the gas from smelting furnaces. Gasesfrom lead smelting furnaces, -for example, carry aconsiderable quantityof lead 'o Xid and are, ordinarily, passed-through Walls of suspendedbags before being carried to the-chimneys. The fabric of the bagscollects the oXids and other suspended material and the bags must befrequently shaken to remove the collected material and to keep theinterstices from becoming so completely filled as to prevent thepassage'of the gas through the bags. The shaking of the bags is now doneby hand and the operation is very slow Aand expensive and very injuriousto the health of the workmen. f

It is the object of my invention to provide apparatus for keeping thebags clean which will be simple in construction andy rapid in operation,will render it unnecessary for workmen to enter the bag house, and willincrease the efliciency and capacity of `a given number of bags.

A further object is to provide an apparatus in which-the variousoperations will be `carried out in proper sequence without attention orcare of an operator.

Other objects and advantages will appear from the more detaileddescription.

Briefly stated, my invention consists of i pneumatically operated meansfor shaking the bags, dampers for controlling the supply of gas to bestrained, and electrical apparatus for controlling the bag shaking meansand the gas controlling dampers.

In the accompanying drawings, which illustrate one embodiment. of myinvention,-

Figure 1 is a plan view of a portion of the bag house; Fig. 2 is avertical view on the line of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a vert.calv1ew on the1in@ y-y of Fig. 1'; Eig. 4. is a da.-

grammatic View, showing the electrical controlling apparatusg. Fig. 5 isa vertical cross section of one ofthe bags, showing the bag shakingapparatus.

1 represents a bag house. The portion below the main floor 5 is dividedinto compartments or cellars by the partitions 2.

(Any desired number of these compartments may be provided. Aplurality ofbars 34 are suspended from rods Band have their lower ends incommunication with a cellar 4. A main conduit 6 from the furnacecommunicates with each of the cellars 4 through the openings-7controlled by dampers 8. Suspended from and communicating with the smallreservoirs 9 are flexible tubes 10 which extend a substantial distancedownward in the interior Vof the bags. The reservoirs 9 for each seriesof b ags are connected to air supply pipes 11 whlch are each incommunication with a source of compressed air (not sl'iown).\ Damperrods 12 are connected to the piston of air cylinder. 13 supplied by pipe14, separate cylinders being provided for operating Veach damper-rod.The valve 15 controls the admission of air into the cylinder. In theposition shown in full lines in Fig. 4, it admits the air to one side ofthe piston head and, in the position shown in dotted lines, :to theother side ofthe piston head. Each supply pipe 11 is provided with avalve 16. /These valves 16 andthe valve 15 are operated by electricalapparatus which will now be described 17, 18 represent current, supplymeans,

19 is a drum controller driven by the motor 20.' .The controller lisprovided with a continuous'contact band 21 to which are connectedycontact members 22,- 23 and 24.

Thesecontacts 22, 23 and 24 cooperate with brushes 25, 26 and 27respectively and each of these brushes is in circuit with a solenoid 28controlling 'a Valve'l. The contact 22 also coperate's with a brush 29in circuit with a solenoid 30 which constitutes `part of I the operatingmeans for valve 15 of the air cylinder 13. l

'31 is a switch movable with thedamper rod '12 and adapted to connectand disconnect the motor 20 from the'mains 17, 18.

32 is a clock driven switch in circuit with the mains 17 18 through thesolenoid 33 which, together with the solenoid 30, constitutes the meansfor operating the valve l5.

In the operation of the bag house, gasesfrom the smelting furnace arebrought through the conduit 6 and openings 7 into the cellars 4 andthrough the openings 35 into and through the walls of the bags and outthrough suitable flues (not shown) in the bag house. At a predeterminedtime, thc switch 32, which I prefer to operate by clockwork, closes thecircuit through solenoid 33 and thus causes the valve 15 to be broughtto the position shown in dotted lines in F ig. el, and air, underpressure, is thereby admitted to the air cylinder to close the damper 12in one of the compartments, thereby cutting off the supply of gas to thebags communicating with that compartment. The movement of the damper rod12 to close the damper also closes the switch 31 and the motor 20 isthereby connected to the line and drives the controller 19 to bring thecontact piece 22 into contact with the brush 25 and thereby closes thecircuit through the solenoid 28 to open the valve 16, this circuit beingtraceable as follows: from main 17 to brush 36, contact member 21,contact 22, brush 25 and solenoid 23 to main 18. The controller drummoves slowly and this circuit will be maintained for a few secondsduring which time the valve 16 is held open and compressed air admittedto the series of reservoirs 9 con nected to the pipe 11. The air passesfrom these reservoirs through the tubes 10 and the ends of these tubesbeing free, it causes them to vibrate with considerable violence andstrike the walls of the bags, thus loosening the collected materialtherefrom and this material, under the influence of gravity and thedownward current of air, falls through the openings 35 into the cellar4. As soon as the Contact piece 22 passes out of contact with the brush25,the valve 15 is closed. Further movement of the controller brings thecontact 23 into contact with a brush 26 whereby valve 13a in the airpipe 11a for supplying the adjacent series of bags is opened by thesolenoid 28a and the operation just described repeated. Still furthermovement of the controller causes the solenoid 28D to open the valve lbin pipe 11b controlling the air to the third series of bags. Aftercontact piece 24 has passed out of circuit with brush 27, contact 22comes into contact with brush 29 and thereby closes the circuit throughsolenoid 30 which actuates the valve 15 to admit air to the oppositeside of the piston head in cylinder 13 and causes the damper 8 to beopened, at the same time, opening the switch 3l and thereby stopping themotor 20. The drum 19 is moved to sufiicient extent to separate contact21 and brush 29 before the motor stops. lVhen switch 32 again reachesits contacting position. the series of operations just described isrepeated. and this switch is so timed that the bags connecting with thecompartment controlled by it and the associated apparatus will be shakenat the proper intervals tol utilize them most eficiently.

It will be apparent that the bags communicating with a given compartmentneed be out of service, that is to say gas from the furnace cut off fromthem, only a very short time and, for this reason, their al1- dayeHiciency is high, and the same quantity of gas can be strained withfewer bags than in a system where the shaking of the bags must be' doneby the slow methods now in use. Each compartment or cellar of the baghouse is preferably provided with the damper and beater controllingapparatus described, and the switches 32 so timed that only onecompartment of the bag house is, at any given time, out of service forthe shaking of the bags communicating with it.

The purpose of the air reservoir 9 is to supply currents of air to theinterior of the bags for a short time after the valves in the air supplypipes have been closed and Vibration of the beaters 10 has ceased. Theserelatively slow moving currents of air in the bag carry the residue ofthe loosened material downward linto the cellar f1.

Having fully described my invention what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters-Patent of the United States is:

1. In an apparatus of the class described, the combination of a bag orcontainer pervious to gas, means for forcing gas to be strained throughsaid bag, a flexible tube supported adjacent to the bag. and pneumaticmeans for causing said tube to strike the bag to dislodge the collectedmaterial therefrom.

2. In an apparatus of the class-described, the combination of a bag orcontainer pervious to gas, means for forcing the gas to be strainedthrough said bag, a flexible, hollow beater supported adjacent to thebag, and means for supplying air or other gas to the interior of the bagthrough the beater.

3. In apparatus of the 'class described, the combination of collectingbags or containers pervious to gas, means for conveying i gas to bestrained to said bags, means for shaking the bags to separate thecollected material therefrom, means for controlling the shaking meansand the flow of gas to the bags, said controlling means being adapt edto cut olf the supply of gas before causing the shaking means tooperate, and means for supplying currents of air or other gas to theinterior of the bags while the supply of gas to be strained is cut 0H.

Ll. In an apparatus of the class described, the conibination of a bag orcontainer perrious to gas, means for forcing gas to be strained throughsaid bag, a flexible tube supported adjacent to the bag. means forsupplying air or other fluid under pressure

